and there are going to be independents, like john, who are going to say this is the right thing to do. it's very bipartisan. republicans will say if it's so bipartisan, why didn't you invite us in and help us write this instead of just presenting this and saying you pass this or i'm going to beat you over the head. >> i just want to be precise about that $450 billion price tag. the press, david, we didn't make it up, we got that number from white house officials. they are the ones who are telling us the price tag for this package will be $450 billion. david, hold on. the motorcade is leaving to go back to the white house. we're going to stay on top of this story. we're going to stay on top of the breaking news story that we're following. i'm wolf blitzer here in washington. i'm kristie lu stout at cnn

hong kong. the new york police department says it is taking additional precautions after the new threat tied to the 9/11 anniversary this weekend. it includes more staffing, more bomb-sniffing dogs and checkpoints across the city. the critical final report on the death of this iraqi civilian in british military custody was released on thursday. the inquiry found baja mussa was brutally beaten and possibly kicked to death to british troops while he was restrained. he was being held as a suspected insurgent in iraq. interpol has been asked to issue an urgent notice for the arrest of moammar gadhafi. he's wanted for alleged crimes against humanity. much of normal life has been shut down in the southwestern united states. a million people are in the dark

in the states of california and arizona and across the border in mexico. authorities are scrambling to restore electric service and have not yet found the cause of the power outages. traffic signals, airports and trains and water filtration plants have all been affected. authorities are asking people to boil their drinking water, limit mobile phone use and stay off the roads. and those are the headlines from cnn, the world's news leader. i'm kristie lu stout. "world business today" starts right now. good morning from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos. and a very good afternoon from cnn tokyo, i'm andrew stevens. welcome to "world business today." the top stories this friday, september 9th. president obama announced a $400 billion stimulus planned but there's a lackluster

response from global investors. and the rugby world cup is about to begin after a rough start. can it kick start new zealand's economy? and six months after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in japan, we're live in tokyo looking at how life has changed for the people here. this morning, revised figures show the economy shrank more than economists first thought in the second quarter of the year, the three months to june. even before the disasters, japan was battling the effects of a global slowdown as well as a strong yen. latter in the show we'll be looking at the prospects of young graduates as well and see how the quake has affected the expatriate community, especially here in tokyo. >> a jam-packed show for you here this friday. first, let's take a check on the european markets. this is where they stand a little over an hour into today's trading. it looks as though investors

don't think much of president barack obama's $447 million stimulus plan to put americans back to work. we'll have more on that in a moment's time. these markets firmly in the red and it is the cac 40 leading the charge down, already 1.3% despite comments made by the u.s. federal reserve head ben bernanke, speaking overnight in the united states, the u.s. state of minnesota, saying that the fed has plenty of tools but, again, not enough concrete action, not enough concrete words there for investors this friday. andrew? >> that's right. he said exactly the same thing not that long ago. people are looking for a few more details from ben bernanke, not prepared to give them the moment. that sparked a sell-off in new york. in japan, the nikkei down 0.63,

the hang seng in hong kong, down about one quarter. the shanghai composite ended virtually flat. the monetary policy tightening does appear to be working. inflation in china slower in august from july's three-year high and that's boosting hopes that beijing will be able to refrain from more tightening measures. now inflation was down to .2%. that's down from 6.5% in earlier months. but that's still well above the government's target of 4%. and in new zealand, the mood there is one of excitement and anticipation ahead of the rugby world cup which kicks off in less than half an hour from now. not only rugby fans are in high spirits. take a look at the investment community as well, the country's stock index ending 0.5%.

they can do a full day's work and then watch rug boeh as well. >> plenty of people here in the united kingdom will be watching that as well, andrew. to wall street where the three major indices finished lower, the dow jones industrial average dropping a little more than 1% at the close. same with the s&p 500. the broader index and the nasdaq was down about 0.75%. andrew? let's take a look nina at the big story today. the u.s. president barack obama laying out tax cuts and spending to try to stoke the american job market. he's asking for $253 billion in tax cuts by reducing payroll taxes and offering tax credits to firms that hire workers who have been unemployed for more than eight months. the president is proposing as well $194 billion in spending on things ranging from infrastructure improvements to extension of unemployment ben fitz. that 253 billion in tax cuts

plus the 194 in spending adds up to a grand total of $447 billion. that is the price tag for this jobs proposal. the president says he will ask the new debt super committee to find ways to offset that cost, in addition to the $1.5 trillion debt reduction the committee was already tasked with. the plan from the president has already taken criticism from members of the republican party. the president contends, though, that the plan has something in it for everyone, including helping businesses but only if congress passes the legislation as he says, right away. >> now it's time to clear the way for a series of trade agreements that would make it easier for american companies to sell their products in panama and columbia and south korea while also helping the workers whose jobs have been affected by global competition.

if americans can buy kias and hyundais, i want to see folks in south korea driving fords and chef viz and kris lerz. i want to see more products sold around the world stamped with the three proud words made in america. that's what we need to get done. >> exports and jobs very much a theme there. the president presenting that plan after the stock exchanges closing for trading. u.s. markets look set for a slightly higher open when trading begins later this day. this is where the futures currently stand. as you can see, not a lot of action certainly in the s&p. the nasdaq up 0.3%, the dow 0.3%. these numbers can swing wildly before the dow opening bell actually rings. >> we have a few hours to this.

let's talk about something that is coming up a little bit closer now and it's one of these sporting events that andrew was eluding to before. in about 20 minutes, the 2011 rugby world cup kicks off in new zealand, hoping to end a 24-hour wait to lift the cup. they play the first match against tonga. 20 teams will battle it out for making a shot to make it to the final. the wealth of talent and the backing of the crowd, they're seen as the hot favorites to lift the trophy for the first time since 1987. it's not just six weeks of compelling action that the tournament brings to new zealand, though, the reserve bank of new zealand reckons that the tournament will probably bring in 95,000 fans. and it's their spending money that's our big number for today. the bank reckons visitors will probably add $585 million to new zealand's total economy.

that's equal to about 1.4% of the country's quarterly gdp. andrew? >> you have to think there's going to be a huge feel-good boost, too, if they are the favorites, obviously win this tournament. it's going to be a long six weeks for a lost new zealanders. it's been a tough year for new zealand. there was the christchurch earthquake, now the economic slowdown. earlier this week i spoke to martin sniden, the ceo of the rugby world cup. i asked him how important the tournament is to the country's economy? >> i think it is pretty useful. it has been a difficult year for new zealand, not just in an economic sense but also because of the earthquakes in christchurch and a major mining disaster in the south of ireland. new zealand hey been down in the dumps for a will the of those last few months. i think people are ready to have a party and i think people are in the right mood and ready to

go. i think economically, it is pretty important that the rugby world cup gi gives our economy a bit of a boost at this time. >> what do you estimate that you are going to make as far as money is concerned from the cup? is it beginning to be a big winfall for you or after you take out the cost of staging it not that much? >> there's been a number of economic analysis done. you can probably argue this plenty of different ways. essentially, the impact on new zealand's gdp looks like being about 500 million new zealand dollars, which is not insignificant and will be welcome in the current economic climate. >> the all blacks are the team to beat right new. do you think the locals will really open up their wallets for this one? >> they are. they've been buying tickets hand over fist. we're about 92%, 93% of where we need to do in terms of ticket

sales. we'll gather in the rest of those over the next few days and once the tournament itself starts. >> rugby fans come in all shapes and sizes but there is a healthy contingent of business people who follow rugby. are you trying to capitalize on those people coming to new zealand. >> there are business leveraging programs that have been established. one of the initiatives is to try and link people who are coming to new zealand as rugby world cup fans but who are in businesses who have interests in new zealand, linking those people with businessmen in new zealand who will be able to capitalize on this initiative. that's a theory that seems good. >> one of the complaints that came from the fifa football world cup in south africa was that too much money went back to fi fifa, not enough went into south africa. have you managed to avoid that

sort of problem? or do you expect to be able to manage that sort of a problem with this tournament? >> the mod that'll we operate under is a difficult one for a country as small as new zealand. we're anticipating in terms of running the tournament itself that we'll be running it at a loss of new zealand dollars about $40 million. and that we pay a very sigs rights fee to the international rugby board for the privilege of hosting the event. but i think it's generally accepted in new zealand that a cost of $40 million is not really a loss. in fact, it's a pretty good investment in new zealand because of the size of this tournament, the international stature of it and the profile opportunity that it gives our country on an international stage. i think we're comfortable that it's a worthwhile investment. excited about the rugby world cup? cnn invites you to be part of our global coverage.

check out cnn.com/worldsport to see the challenge we've issued to rugby fans everywhere. rugby coral cup crossbar challenge. to celebrate the rugby world cup in new zealand, we're asking you to send in a video of yourself kicking the rugby ball, not through the post but against the crossbar if you can. tell white house you are, where you're from in the world and which team you support. thanks to london irish for letting us use the facilities for the day. here's my attempt at the kick. a little bit high and wide. i suspected that. send in your video for the rugby world cup crossbar challenge. >> i'm steve shingler from london irish.

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hello and welcome back. live from cnn london in tokyo, you're watching "world business today." >> before the march 11 earthquake, tsunami and beginning of the nuclear crisis, japan was already experiencing a gradual exodus of educated, international business people. but in the months after the quake, around 250,000 executives moved away. as kyung lah now reports, the trend rye flekts a major shift that has some japanese economists worried. >> reporter: jacob goldstein is 15 months old. he spent nearly half of his short life living with disaster. first the earthquakes from the initial 9.0 quake to aftershocks

still rattling the country. and then a nuclear crisis that's spewing radiation and still months from a cold shutdown. his american parents decided six months of a post-disaster japan was enough. >> you're nervous. you don't want to drink the water, eat the food. whether they say it's okay to eat it or drink it, we have to make that decision for ourselves. >> reporter: when jonathan goldstein, the director of a global recruitment consulting firm got a job offer in fast-growing china, the choice was an easy one. they're leaving japan. >> we were really considering leaving anyway. i think with the earthquake it sped up the process. >> reporter: an estimated 250,000 foreigners left japan in the immediate wake of the earthquake and nuclear crisis. thousands more lined up at immigration bureaus for exit paperwork from the country. but what's concerning to tokyo as a global city for business and to japan's sputtering economy is a loss of families like the goldsteins,

international, educated professionals working for multinational corporations. japan's government doesn't keep official records of how many international professionals have left the country permanently but agencies servicing american and europeans along with international experts in tokyo say the trend is clear. >> i've been almost -- i'd be willing to shay shocked by the number of people who have left. >> reporter: asian hedge fund investment specialist ed rogers has lived in japan for more than two decades. he's seen a slow move out of japan for years but post-disaster, foreign companies are rapidly shifting workers to other asian hubs, hong kong, seoul, singapore and shanghai. >> we've seen a seismic change in attitude as far as foreign firms becoming much more aware you're investing into japan. >> reporter: do you think the pendulum will swing back? >> i do. in the long term, we think you simply can't ignore the fact that this is the world's second largest developed economy.

>> good boy. >> reporter: perhaps the best news for the country's international prognosis is this -- >> do you think that tokyo status as a global city is beginning to be changed forever? >> i don't think forever. i would consider coming back, definitely. >> reporter: part of the growing pains and recovery process for a country still grappling with multiple disasters. kyung lah, cnn, tokyo. i have to say, nina, walking around tokyo for the last couple days, what does still strike you is the number of expats you do see here. there may have been a brain but there's still a lot here. i guess the competition is also going to increase. shanghai, particularly, hong kong, kyung lah mentioned singapore and india. these are the financial centers particularly that international banks and businesses want to get their toes into the water there. >> okay, andrew, going from

tokyo and shanghai to new york now. in the years that followed 9/11, many people thought the only appropriate option for the world trade center site was a memorial. but one man had a different vision, a dream that it could once again be a thriving business hub. we'll hear from him after this break. [ hayden ] what if there was a makeup that didn't just hide your breakouts... but actually made them go away. neutrogena skin clearing makeup has our proven blemish fighting formula so it clears your breakouts. now that's beautiful. neutrogena®. i am an american.

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officials in the united states say that they've uncovered a new terrorism

threat. they say it's specific and credible but unconfirmed. the threat comes just days before the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. officials say that they believe the plot involves three individuals, including a u.s. citizen who may be using vehicles loaded with explosives. they say that new york and washington are possible targets. new york mayor michael bloomberg says his city is on high alert but he doesn't want people to panic. >> the threat at this moment has not been corroborated. i want to stress that. it is credible but it has not been corroborated. but we do live in a world where we must take these threats seriously and we certainly will. >> mayor bloomberg there. new york's new world trade center is finally beginning to take shape but in a tough economy can the area survive as a business district? cnn's maggie lake spoke with world trade center developer larry silverstein.

>> reporter: in the months that followed the september 11th attack very few people thought that this site could or should be anything other than a memorial. one man, real estate developer larry silverstein believed almost from the beginning that this patch of downtown manhattan could once again be a thriving business district. >> you know, maggie, i never thought -- i never lost faith. yes, very complicated. extremely difficult. enormously challenging, enough challenges for ten lifetimes, not just one. but i resolved at the very beginning that this needed to be done and considering the fact that i had all these obligations that i assumed when i bought the lease for the trade center, since i had the obligation, i said, okay, let's get on with it and let's do it. i just never dreamt it was going to take as long as it did and be as complicated as it turned out to be. the good news is, here we are and by golly it's going forward

and the fruits of our labors are just beginning to show and it's very exciting. you look back and you say, okay, maybe this took too long, this took too long. you can point to some government officials and say, they did a good job with that. >> this is an animation of what the entire site is to look like when it's finished. silverstein properties own 7 world trade center and buildings 2, 3 and 4. one world trade center was handed back to the port authority as part of a compromise. has the dialogue changed now that people see these buildings and see the workers coming in? >> they wouldn't talk to us a year or two years ago because we had no credibility. suddenly our credibility is here. they look at this and say oh, my god, look what's happening. it's a different world. therefore, i'm positive and thankful. >> reporter: we're on the 15th

floor of four world trade center, this is obviously still being constructed. when this entire complex is complete, it will be millions of square feet to rent. the economy is weak right now. what are your forecast for occupancy? are you confident you'll be able to fill all these buildings? >> happily. i've been around for a long time. i've been able to see these things, these cycles, up down, up down be, up down. you build these things for many generations to come. this is a longative term goal. as these buildings move forward, we'll reach the up-end of the cycle. as we do, the timing for these bullings i suspect could be just perfect. >> reporter: if you build them, they'll come. >> i really do believe because it's happened to me. i've been doing this for so many years and every time we did it, every time we built these buildings they filled. they didn't fill today or tomorrow but they filled. >> reporter: what do you think the legacy is going to be for

you and the world trade center site? >> i think my life and the trade center are tied for eternity. and what i'm hoping for is that at the end of the next five years, we can look back and see this thing in a completed fashion, people look at it and say we've done a superb job and the buildings iconic, they're first-class, they leased, they financed, the retail, the destination retail is first-class quality. millions of people come here each year to visit it and enjoy it. this is my hope and my prayer. >> larry silverstein there talking to maggie lake. join us for the second edition of "world business today." that's at 9:00 p.m. hong kong time, 9:00 a.m. in new york. maggie will be live at the world trade center site and i'll be in tokyo. nina will be in london. you're watching "world business today." we'll be back in just a moment.

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from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos. >> and i'm andrew stevens at cnn tokyo. welcome back. you're watching "world business today." now, we're about half an hour -- an hour and a half into the trading session here in europe. let's have a look at how things stand at the moment. haves don't seem to be thinking much about president barack obama in the united states, $447 billion plan to try and put some of the 14 million unemployed americans back into the work force. as you can see, market s firmly

down, that's despite ben bernanke making a speech in minnesota yesterday saying the fed has plenty of tools in its toolbox but no concrete action yet. that's what disappointed investors. i should also point out, porsche shares are losing the most, dragging down the dax, which is down 1.5%. this is on the back of news that a planned merger with volkswagen at the moment seems to be delayed and that is one of the reasons why that stock is down. automakers also dragging down the likes of the cac 40 and also the dax. andrew? >> nina, it's interesting what you're saying about ben bernanke. it begs the question, doesn't it, what will mr. bernanke want to see in the u.s. economy before he does say what tools he's going to use, what tools he has in his toolbox and how he's going to use them. we've had pretty bad economic numbers of late, still nothing concrete from the fed chairman. anyway, let's check what

happened here in asia today and the markets ending broadly lower. the nikkei down 0.6%, the hang seng down 0.25%, the australian benchmark, it bucked the trend, ending up more than 0.1%. inflation numbers out there, it failed to boost the shanghai composite, though, that ended pretty flat as you see there. on that data from beijing, monetary tightening at least on these numbers appears to be working. chinese inflation slowed in august from july's three-year high. that boosted hopes that beijing will be able to cut back from tightening more interest rate rises, more moves on the banks. inflation was at 6.5% in august. it's down. but it has a long way to go before it hits the government target. they've hit 4% as the inflation rate it wants to see. nina. >> let's take a look at the u.s.

futures markets. it looks like we're headed toward a mixed open after that announcement of the $447 billion jobs plan announced by president barack obama yesterday. we got the nasdaq composite which is virtually flat at the moment and the other two markets falling when it comes to the futures. u.s. stocks wavered for much of the day yesterday before falling. speaking at an event in the u.s. state of minnesota, the federal reserve chairman, ben bernanke reiterated the central bank's commitment to help stimulate the shaky kmo. he has the fed has certain fools it can use to boost growth but then again he provided no specifics as andrew and i have been telling you. that's one of the things affecting the markets. it in turn appears to have pushed hesitant investors to sell in yesterday's session. and also to sell here in europe today. andrew?

okay, nina, let's go back to our special coverage on the six months anniversary of the tsunami that struck japan, march 11 that happened. it was an earthquake followed by a tsunami and then that was followed by what is now an ongoing nuclear crisis. and things are actually worse than the government originally thought. we got some new economic numbers out today in japan. the economy shrank more than expected last quarter. tokyo has revised the second quarter gdp figure, that takes you to the end of june. it was at a contracting rate of 1.3%. it now says the economy was actually contracting at 2.1%. i should point out these are annualized rates. that's extrapolating over the full year, the current pace of economic contraction would mean a 2.1% growth for the full year. so it's no surprise when we have that sort of backdrop as i found

out, the graduates are certainly struggling to find work. e-commerce site flutterescape was less than a year old when the earthquake and tsunami struck on march 11th. >> it stopped for one week. >> reporter: for 26-year-old founder, the disaster claireified just how fragile the japanese economy is. >> that was really a wakeup call. i guess most of the people had tried to do something to bring about the economic recovery to japan's economy. >> reporter: but his generation, jobs and the struggling economy are the dominant facts of life. and the march 11 disasters plunged the economy even deeper into recession, making it even harder to find work. this jobs fair in tokyo, university students say the system is increasingly stacked against them.

getting a job straight out of college, which is considered a must in japan's strict labor culture keeps getting harder. last year only 56% of graduating seniors found work, compared with 63% a year earlier and 74% at its peak in the late 1990s. if they do find work it's more than likely to be a temporary jb that lacks benefits. >> because the education system has served them badly, all the money that the government has is going for pensions and medical care for the aged and they shortchanged the youth of the country. those are the young workers who are facing a very bleak future unless we can change the way that spending of money by the government has done to help those kids. >> reporter: what you won't see on the streets of japan is protests against the government, but there is a backlash, in what

one researcher described as a sideline the rebellion. more than half of young japanese are now refusing to pay into a mandatory national pension system. takahashi works to increase youth involvement in politics. he also says the tsunami has shown japanese youth how vulnerable their economy is. >> there's a possibility japan will fall down as it stands. along with it, people started being aware that the country's financial issue and the social security issue are big issues for them. >> reporter: kakayami believes that for japan to change, his generation needs to get off the traditional path at securing a job at a big japanese corporate for life. >> it's all about giving them a chance to challenge something. i want them to fail first. i'm always failing every single day but that's a good failure. you're always moving forward. >> reporter: in a stagnant economy, moving forward in japan

has become a huge challenge. for the new generation of graduates. now, nina, if you're looking -- wondering why some of those new graduates at the job fair were looking wiry and nervous, some have been rejected by up to 40 companies in their job search. gives you an idea of how tight conditions are. >> it does indeed. but they are stoically, as you were just saying, refusing to protest or anything like that, which is to a certain extent a good sign, andrew. flash flooding in the u.s. state of maryland in the wake of lee. jennifer delgado is at the cnn weather center an she joins us now. good morning to you, jen. i had, jen, can you hear us? seems we have a little bit of problem there with getting through to jennifer delgado.

we'll come back to that in just a moment. so we'll come back to that in just a moment. i believe we'll be heading for a quick break. and that's it for this edition of "world business today." >> i'm andrew stevens in tokyo. we'll see you in the later show. [clucking] [clucking] [ding] [clucking] announcer: separate raw meats from other foods by using different cutting boards. 3,000 americans will die from food poisoning this year. keep your family safer. check your steps at foodsafety.gov.

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this week on marketplace middle east, wars, upheaval and regime change. some of the dramatic fallout of 9/11 in the middle east. ten years on, some now say the economic impact in the region was not all that bad. plus -- >> obviously the expectations are very high and the biggest challenge of the interim government over the last few months was to address issues. paving the path to interim financing. we discuss the challenges that lie ahead. it's been ten years since the september 11th terror attacks that changed the world, much of the middle east was put under the spotlight as the u.s. launched its war on terror against osama bin laden and al qaeda.

it also forced many of the region's business leaders to be rethinking their investment strategies. as leoni lakhani found out. >> the 9/11 attacks forced investors in the middle east to look inward, concerns about traveling to the west particularly the u.s. and scrutiny about any funds originating in the middle east meant that more businessmen in this region kept their money close to home. revenue earned from higher oil prices were invested within the middle east and actually helped to boost these economies. now if you take a look at the numbers, it's pretty clear. foreign direct investment flooded into the middle east in the ten years since at tacks, the total amount of fdi jumped nine-fold. much of the money was used to develop the economies in the region, particularly north africa with funds earmarked for real estate, tourism and infrastructure projects. total fdi jumped from under 46

billion pre-9/11 to more than 200 billion last year. now, of course, it's a whole new world in the middle east because of the arab spring. there's also volatility and uncertainty in the west. so investors will ned to take a breath and rethink their strategy going forward. leoni lakhani from marketplace middle east, abu dhabi. >> north africa has been the focus for many of the region's investors. tunisia saw total foreign direct investment triple in the time between the 9/11 attacks and the revolution, according to u.n. figures. investment has now fallen off and has come to a standstill. tunisia is looking to the country for support. the gulf arab countries need to do more says the finance minister. >> most of the investments came from europe and the percentage of investments that came from

the gulf is, in my opinion, very, very modest compared to the potential that could have come from the region and i have every reason to believe today with the changing conditions and the new opportunities that tunisia will offer that there would be significantly more investments coming from the gulf. >> i had the chance to talk to your central bank governor who didn't think that the g8 or even the arab governments in the gulf states are responding fast enough to what is a crisis in north africa, the pressures after the arab spring. >> we were hoping already that there would be more clear commitments made and specific pledges. we understood afterwards we were not to expect that. >> is it too much to define is as an investment strike where people want to see clarity before committing to tunisia right now. we're going through a period where investors are taking pause until the elections are over. >> a lot of the investors are sitting on the sideline and waiting to see what will happen

in tunisia. the realities is that we've had a lot of investors come to the country, interested in what's happening in the country and many of them have expressed tremendous interest for some of them to resume investments and to even enhance it in the future and many new investors are looking at the country and opportunities to invest in democracy. >> you want to put in investment vehicles, one launched and another coming to give them channels to put the money. this is what was lacking before? >> those are the financial -- for the financial investors, those who are interested to invest in funds. but for the large investors, which would accept some other funds we're launching, it would give them co-investment rights, the opportunity to invest in the projects themselves. >> at the g8 summit in deville, they talked about a marshall fund for the middle east. how would you define a future fund and what should it look like in your view? >> well, i mean, i was having

this conversation with the president of the world bank and i mentioned marshall plan and he said, no, no, no, marshall plan is a different story. that's europe which was destroyed after the war, it had to be reconstructed. both he and i agreed we're going to give a new name to this plan. the object will be to inspire transparency or creation thereof. >> there seems to be a high level of frustration if you look at what spilled over into the streets august 15th. is that related to the fact that people have high expectations of near-term results after the jasmine revolution? >> afteriousobviously, the expe are very high and the interim government was to address the expectations. the real question is how can we convey a strong message to the young population, particularly the unemployed amongst them that

help is on the way? the real challenge we have today is one of short term. by making sure that the pledges are -- will indeed come forth by making sure that we give evidence to the young people of tunisia that serious work is being done and by providing evidence of that, that's what, in my judgment, will set forth proper conditions, not only for the transition to be successful but also for democracy to be successful as well. >> providing financial support to the arab countries in transition was the focus of finance ministers meeting in abu dhabi this week. one concern is how the arab spring has disrupted economic growth. with the imf placing a $160 billion price tag on recovery, there's been growing appreciate your for the wealthy gulf arab states to come forward. their commitment was clear but there was a recognition that the path to growth and democracy would take a lot more time. >> the fear is that economies of

countries whether those that witness political shifts or those that are still witnessing political unrest today will take a long time before they recover and go back to normal. >> well, as arab leaders respond to a region in transition and the world remembers 9/11 ten years on, one country is taking full advantage of a new world order. we look at the unintended and to some, unwelcome consequences of america's post-9/11 strategy throughout the middle east. any questions? no. you know... ♪ we're not magicians ♪ we can't read your mind ♪ ♪ read your mind ♪ we need your questions ♪ each and every kind ♪ every kind ♪ will this react with my other medicine? ♪ ♪ hey, what are all these tests even for? ♪ ♪ questions are the answer ♪ yeah ♪ oh

in a ten-year span book-ended by 9/11 and the arab spring, many middle eastern countries have undergone dramatic change. some analysts say one country in particular is in much better position politically and economically than it was before this decade of transformation. >> reporter: the attacks of september 11th spurred what the bush administration called the war on terror and eventually led

to u.s. attacks against iraq and afghanistan. ten years later, the outcome of the u.s. foreign policy after 9/11 is still in question. but some analysts say there is a country that has already come out a big winner, thanks to u.s. strategy. >> i think there can be no question that iran is by far the greatest beneficiary of the so-called war on terror. >> reporter: the wars in iraq and afghanistan toppled from power the taliban and saddam hussein. two of iran's most bitter enemies. >> before september 11th, 2001, you had two regimes, one in afghanistan, the taliban, and in iraq saddam hussein's regime, which were counterweights to iranian influence, which were adversaries to the iranian government. >> not only are those enemies gone but the fact of the matter is iran has far greater influrns in both iraq and afghanistan. >> reporter: today iran has strengthened economic ties with iraq and afghanistan with hundreds of billions of dollars

in trade and building projects. as washington begins drawing down troops in afghanistan, tehran has bolstered political ties with kabul. the islamic republic is already a staunch supporter of iraq's shia-led government. >> i think what the u.s. didn't anticipate is that by replacing saddam hussein with a shiite-led political order in iraq, we were giving iran, which is also a majority shiite country, tremendous influence over a big chunk of the iraqi population. >> reporter: u.s. officials downplay iran's post-9/11 influence, citing its domestic problems like political in-fighting and a struggling economy. the recent uprising in syria has also weakened tehran's key alliance with damascus. even so, iran appears to have solidified itself as a regional power broker. >> ten years after september 11th, 2001, iran has become the

"x" factor in terms of stability in the middle east. >> reporter: an "x" factor analysts say washington simply cannot ignore. reza sayah, cnn, islamabad. the government says the bashir nuclear power plan is the in the final stages of testing. this week, the plant started to provide energy to iran's power grid. the latest iranian plans call for it to be fully operational, into the grid, by mid-november or early december. relations between israel and turkey have taken another turn for the worst. the government is still angry at israel's deadly handling of the peace they are defending ties with israel. >> we are completely suspending military relations related with the defense industry, also depending on the developments

there may be other various steps to be taken. they thought this spoiled boy roll would continue. that's it for this edition of "cnn marketplace middle east." i'm john defterios. thanks for watching. we'll see you next week.